What size MIG wire for Car Body Repairs?

[Arcangel]

I use 0.6mm wire. I it seems to be working better now that Im using a steel liner, and using a new tip if it starts playing up seems to work for me. when I first used my clarke 151te, I thought I'd use a teflon liner (thinking it would be lower friction) as opposed to the nylon ones I'd used in my Clarke pro mig 90 for 15 years. after a few hours very intermittant use it was feeding horribly, and it turned out that it was the serration put on the wire by the wire rollers was chewing up the inside of the teflon liner. so now I'm sticking with a steel liner (and the wire isnt)

Thanks Optima

I am going to buy a new liner, so will make sure its a steel one.

 

[Arcangel]

Never had a problem with .8 or .6 on the Clarke pro90 on my car repairs. Obviously on car body work when you start hitting less than 1mm thick bodywork the 0.6mm helps.

Hi Rocketman

I've always avoided Car repairs especially other peoples but I don't mind having a go on my own Car, as outside firms charge a fortune even for small jobs

 

[Arcangel]

To be honest, I'd go with 0.8mm over 0.6mm, I have a welder with both on, and unless the feed setup is 100% spot on for the 0.6mm it has issues all the time, don't get me wrong, when it's working it's great on the really thin stuff, especially if you're having to be careful about how far you cut back and end up cleaning up pitted steel to weld to - but I've welded all the way down to 1/32" sheet metal with 0.8mm and pulsing just fine.

Hi Phillip

My Cousin an expert MIG Welder doesen't like using 0.6 for all the reasons everyone has mentioned, so I guess it really is a case of 'practise,practise,practise. at least until I'm half as good as he is!

 

[premmington]

I use 0.6mm A18 wire with no problems! (In pure CO2)

Argon gas mixes do make a difference to weld quality!

 

[Arcangel]

I use 0.6mm A18 wire with no problems! (In pure CO2)

Argon gas mixes do make a difference to weld quality!

Hi Thanks for your reply

Once I get my welder set up perfectly, then I will try again and see what happens.

 

[Paul griffiths]

if i was going to use 0.6 again i woud probaly start by spending an hour on the welder. i did get good at welding cars up but since been involved in fabrication more i avoid cars like the plague.

i've used quite a lot of 0.8 and 1mm ali wire and thats probaly the worst. so if simlar rules apply i would try cleaning out the lance, pull the liner out and blow it out, if the liner is teflon just change it. infact you can buy the stuff in rolls just get one of them. and good welder tips. if you've got a mini mig style torch, it may be worth looking into upgradeing it at some point, the tiny mig tips are hatefull things. the other one that may sound daft is reel size i think the answer for small wire size reels is 5KG.

the silly littel reels have to go round so fast the brake on the reel seems to give the wirefeed motor some stick on small migs, but 15 KG reels have to much inertia so the brake eeds tightening up to stop the reel unspooling itself when you stop but the wire fed struggels to pull against it. and a 15Kg reel will have gone rusty long before it used. for 0.8 i've found 5KG the right size would imagin the same holds true for 0.6 as there isn't much for the rollers to drive on and when they start slipping the eire gets roughed up and snaggs more soe the rollers chew it up more . decent quality wire i also found is worth the extra money as it feeds much smoother and lasts much longer before going rusty

I always use 0.6 on 15kg reels , never had a problem with cobbling up ,
I’ve been welding cars for 30 odd years and massive amounts of welding carried out ,
Everyone to there own, but that’s the size wire I prefer to use ,
Migs are great machines and much faster than tig by far , but that’s a different ball game altogether,

 

[premmington]

I always use 0.6 on 15kg reels , never had a problem with cobbling up ,
I’ve been welding cars for 30 odd years and massive amounts of welding carried out ,
Everyone to there own, but that’s the size wire I prefer to use ,
Migs are great machines and much faster than tig by far , but that’s a different ball game altogether,

I too always use 0.6mm on 15kg reels. I too never get birds nests or feed problems.

All thou the last A18 0.6mm roll of wire that came from Rapid welding - was only 12kg.

Felt a bit robbed at https://www.rapidwelding.com/dynamic/DisplayItem.aspx?c=A1806&zl=3

 

[Cobbler]

I always use 0.6 on 15kg reels , never had a problem with cobbling up ,
I’ve been welding cars for 30 odd years and massive amounts of welding carried out ,
Everyone to there own, but that’s the size wire I prefer to use ,
Migs are great machines and much faster than tig by far , but that’s a different ball game altogether,

Welcome to the forum Paul, must tell you though, the last post on this is 5 years old. I would think he’s used that reel by now, & possibly a few more.

 

[Mr Roo]

But has anyone ever Welded any actual Car Bodywork, using 0.8?

i usually use 1.0mm wire because that’s what’s in my welder most of the time. Or I use 0.8mm wire.

I never use 0.6mm for anything, and I do a *lot* of cars.

 

[Mr Roo]

Welcome to the forum Paul, must tell you though, the last post on this is 5 years old. I would think he’s used that reel by now, & possibly a few more.

hahahaha christ.